


Looking Up

by PiscesDragon



Series: A Series Of Shorts [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Biology, F/F, Galra Growth Spurt, M/M, Married Couple, S8 doesn't exist here, Twitter is a great place for fic ideas, adult people getting up to adult things, unexpected changes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 07:44:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20870672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PiscesDragon/pseuds/PiscesDragon
Summary: It’s been phoebs since Shiro has last seen his husband, who has been stuck away on a mission that seemed like it would never end. But what happens when Galra genes wreak havoc in the meantime, and the man who comes back looks a little different from the one he kissed goodbye?





	Looking Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheRedPalaaladin (Thighz)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thighz/gifts).

> The inspiration for this fic came from [this tweet by Vel](https://twitter.com/blackpalaladin/status/1154810309326061568?s=12) \- thanks so much for the idea and I hope you like it!
> 
> Also, definitely click check out Vel's writing because it's amazing!
> 
> I considered giving this the title "Keith 2.0", but let's be real, Keith is awesome in any form :)
> 
> Thanks to DropsOfAutumn for helping me (especially with the ending!)

As the Galran ship approached the Atlas, Shiro could feel the muscles in his body simultaneously contract with excitement and relax with relief. With a silent sigh, and a mental reminder to have patience, he suppressed the tremors trying to run through him.

It had been three phoebs since he’d last seen his husband, which was entirely too long in Shiro’s opinion. The mission that was only supposed to take a few movements had been extended multiple times due to ongoing difficulties, and it had been an incredible relief to receive a message that the team was finally headed home.

The major problem the team had been dealing with, like most conflicts throughout space and time, centered on two opposing factions. The Quixians and Lytrnx were the two primary species on the planet of Altraxia. During the occupation by the Galra, the two groups had shared a common enemy, able to find camaraderie and cooperation in their joint suffering. Since the end of the war, however, long-dormant rivalries had quickly been reforming. Things had escalated to the point where the leaders of the Quixians and the Lytrnx has effectively split the planet into different territories, forming rough boundaries to keep the ‘other’ out.

This would all have still been fine — except for the fact that both groups found it necessary to _ extend _ their boundaries, trying to reduce the land of the other. Of course, this led to fighting and altercations. 

The conflict had finally escalated to the point the Coalition decided someone needed to intercede. Unfortunately, their attempts at finding a diplomatic solution had been an unmitigated disaster. When both sides walked away from peace negotiations even more determined to destroy the other, a new plan of dealing with the altercation had been established.

When the Blades were first contacted about getting involved, Kolivan hadn’t initially been sold on jumping in. It had been Keith who had convinced him they needed to infiltrate both sides and work the problem from inside. Since he had been so vocal about the Blades involvement, and had an intricate knowledge of the characteristics and leadership weaknesses of both groups through his direct involvement with the Coalition, Kolivan had believed it was imperative for Keith to be included in the operation.

He couldn’t say no. But he had promised Shiro it wouldn’t be a long, drawn-out affair.

Complications were expected, but like any conflict, things rarely went according to plan. The good news was that they had finally upended the authoritarian leadership of both the Lytrnx and Quixians, leaving more reasonable heads in charge who were willing to compromise.

And, most importantly, his husband was finally home. 

A hailing signal pinged the Atlas, and the communication officer opened the channel, patching the communication to the entire bridge at Shiro’s command. Keith’s voice, a balm to Shiro’s anxious heart, came through loud and clear.

“This is Senior Blade Captain Kogane with the vessel Victronus requesting permission to land and board,” Keith stated, following the professional protocol expected from their positions, regardless of personal affiliations. 

His voice sounded a little different, deeper and more rough than usual, and Shiro worried Keith was more exhausted and worn from this mission than he’d expected. He also hadn’t contacted them with a video feed, which was rare, especially since there had been so little contact between them over the many movements. Shiro felt a little cheated, having to wait even longer to see Keith’s face, but he reminded himself to have patience.

“Permission granted,” Shiro replied with a bright smile, even though the only people able to see it were his bridge crew, who passed sly, knowing looks at each other. “Welcome to the Atlas, Captain. It’s good to have you back.”

Shiro knew how much Keith hated when he used the title, and he couldn’t resist teasing him before their reunion.

“It’s good to be back, Captain,” Keith answered, and Shiro didn’t need a visual to picture the smile he knew was on his husband’s face at that remark.

As soon as Atlas alerted him the bay door was closed, Shiro was sprinting away from the bridge toward the hangars. He could hear the bridge crew chuckling behind him, but Shiro couldn’t care less. He would not be spending another unnecessary _ moment _ away from Keith if he could help it.

******

He stood at the edge of the docking area, safely away from the ship as it powered down. Veronica came up behind him, positioning herself at his shoulder in her standard post. Shiro was surprised she had followed him, but then realized she must have a reason of her own to be waiting in the hangar.

“Did Axca come back with Keith?” Shiro asked, turning to glance at her from his peripheral vision.

She gave him a wry look but didn’t comment on the fact that he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of his husband’s plane. “Yeah. Figured I would join you.”

Shiro nodded in acknowledgement, focused solely on the ship as the rear hatch released with a hiss, opening to settle the ramp on the floor. Shiro’s breath caught in his throat briefly when a lean, dark-haired figure came into view, and his heart sped up at the sight.

He didn’t think he would ever get tired of looking at Keith. Sometimes seeing him like this, when they had been away from each other for a time, was like waking up from the astral plane all over again. As if his brain could never quite conjure a clear picture of Keith, and seeing him again threw everything into vivid technicolor. Keith’s long strides brought him down the ramp next to Axca, and Shiro couldn’t help but admire the view, thinking for the thousandth time how incredible his husband was — both inside and out.

Shiro was a lucky man, indeed.

“Does Keith look bigger to you?” Veronica asked, her brows scrunching up in confusion and forming a wrinkle between them. She paused a moment as they watched their partners move closer, before continuing in a more nervous, fluttery voice, “He’s bigger, right?”

In the back of his mind somewhere, Shiro felt like he’d had this conversation before.

“I don’t… think so?” Shiro answered, although what started as a firm dismissal trailed off in a squeaky question because the closer Keith got, the more it seemed he _ was _ different from the last time Shiro had seen him.

He could have _ sworn _ Axca was taller than Keith… 

Veronica gave Shiro one more worried glance before taking off at a run to meet her partner, who scooped her up and spun her around before setting her back on her feet and kissing her soundly.

Shiro watched them with a smile, before noticing the person he’d come to meet seemed to be the exact opposite — in no hurry, maybe even walking a little slower than normal. Unbothered and very eager to have Keith back in his arms after so long, Shiro strode forward to meet him, careful to maintain some decorum given the number of crew members who were hanging around the cavernous room.

As he got nearer, he could make out the concerned frown on Keith’s face, making Shiro move a little faster to get to him. But when he finally got close enough to touch his husband, he abruptly pulled up short, struck dumb and frozen to the spot just inches from Keith.

He tilted his head up to lock onto a nervous pool of violet.

He looked _ up. _

_ At Keith. _

UP.

Everything around him slid out of focus, time frozen like they were in a broken wormhole. Shock tore through him as his heart pounded, the beginning of a nervous panic winding up inside of him. His eyes felt dry, and Shiro had to remind himself to blink.

He should say something… 

“Gggluuuah.” Shiro’s brain, unable to process the turn of events, completely lost the function for processing language. 

“Hey,” Keith greeted, trying to smile but only succeeding in making it look like he might throw up. Then again, he may just have been actually physically nauseous at confronting his husband with something like this without any warning. “I’m back.”

“Uhhh…” Shiro tried again. Nope, words were still not happening. “Um…”

That was better. Shiro swallowed — HARD. His heart felt like it might beat out of his chest, his pulse racing like a hoverbike across the desert. To make matters worse, he wasn’t honestly sure if he was going into shock or if he was being possessed by a level of horny energy heretofore undiscovered on sentient planets.

Because his husband — his dear, sweet darling Keith — who had been a couple of inches shorter than Shiro when he had left phoebs ago, was now _ significantly _ taller than he was. And this new experience was… _ something _ Shiro wasn’t quite able to put into words yet.

But if the way his pants were tightening was any indication, at least half of him was _definitely_ ok with it.

“I didn’t… I didn’t know how to tell you,” Keith said so quietly it was almost a whisper, looking down, though the action no longer succeeded in hiding his eyes from Shiro.

Regardless of his surprise, Shiro couldn’t help but reach out to comfort his husband, grabbing him at first by the front of his shirt to pull him closer. Then his hands, possessed of their own free will, began slowly running up his chest — and going, and going until they reached Keith’s shoulders, now just under Shiro’s eye level.

His body seemed HUGE under the palm of Shiro’s prosthetic, and that was saying something. The revelation made Shiro a little dizzy.

“Keith,” Shiro breathed. Forcing his brain to find and use words was proving incredibly difficult when it felt like all the blood in his body had drained out of it and was quickly flooding into regions farther south. “What happened?”

He ran his hands along Keith’s shoulders, now broader, in what was meant to be a comforting manner. A garbled, horny whine escaped him though, which Keith seemed to misinterpret as a sound of displeasure. His husband crumpled into his arms, bending awkwardly to try to lean his head on Shiro’s shoulder, as he did when seeking comfort.

“I’m sorry, Shiro,” Keith said quickly, his anger coming to the forefront as he couldn’t make their bodies fit together the way they were supposed to. “It’s my stupid Galra genes. Stupid fucking second puberty that NOBODY even bothered to tell me was even a _ THING _ — remind me to murder your mother-in-law for that by the way — started up a few movements into our mission. I was constantly starving, I could n’t sleep because of stupid _ actual growing pains _ in my legs, and was either biting everybody’s heads off or damn near crying because I missed you so much.”

When he finished his explanation, Keith sounded like he was still fighting tears.

“Hey, hey — sweetheart,” Shiro cooed, running his hands along the now wider planes of Keith’s back. The split-second thought tripped through his brain of what his husband might now look like when laid out on his stomach under him. Pushing the salacious thought rapidly to the side, Shiro refocused. Reassuring Keith came first; he would have time to explore _ other _ things later. “It’s fine. You’re fine. You’re back — you’re safe. That’s all that matters.”

“I hate this, Shiro,” Keith grumbled, still very much in distress. “I can’t even hold you like normal. You didn’t sign up to spend your life with an overgrown freak. This is _ horrible.” _

Shiro couldn’t get used to the slight change in the tenor of his voice, the rasp nearly a growl from his aggravation. His sweet, often sensitive husband looked _ and _ sounded like he could take Shiro apart.

And _ holy fuck _ was that a thought he needed to explore further when not in mixed company.

Or any company besides Keith, for that matter.

Shiro’s stomach tripped over itself as he smothered the nervous laugh trying to escape. “It’s _ really _ not, baby.”

As someone who’d always been considered tall for a human, Shiro had never been involved with anyone larger than he was. Past boyfriends had been about the same stature or slightly smaller, and obviously he’d been used to having a slight height advantage of a few inches over Keith. As he prodded Keith back into an upright position, realizing that with a little stretching his husband could now tuck _ him _ under his chin was… mind-blowing. A tremor of excitement ran through him as he fit himself up against the large, hard body of his husband, wrapping his arms securely around Keith’s waist.

They still fit together like a key in a lock, but the roles had been reversed. Shiro couldn’t be sure if this revelation had unlocked a secret kink or if it was just the fact that even if Keith had turned purple and grown a tail, he’d still love him dearly.

All he knew was right now he really wanted to drag his husband back to their quarters and remap every inch of him — with his mouth.

Very, _very_ thoroughly.

Shiro was perfectly capable of being as accomplished a cartographer as he was a pilot, after all.

That thought prompted a dangerous wondering — _ was _ ** _every_ ** _ part of him bigger? _

Instantly Shiro’s mouth went bone dry, and he gave a tight cough before banishing that thought to the corner of his brain for ‘Immediate Follow-up’.

“I’m a giant monster,” Keith lamented, laying his head against Shiro’s forehead. Strands of dark hair hung down in Shiro’s face, softly brushing against his cheek.

Shiro leaned back, craning his neck slightly to look up (UP!) and laying a soft hand against his husband’s cheek. “Are you saying I was a ‘giant monster’ when I was the taller one?” Shiro asked with a wry grin and tenderness in his voice.

“What? No!” Keith responded immediately. “Shiro, that’s not what I —”

With a stretch of his arm to reach the back of Keith’s head and a firm pull, Shiro guided Keith’s lips down to his own. Under normal circumstances, he would have been more cautious — as the captain of the ship, Shiro was always aware of his crew and made a point to model appropriate behavior. As difficult as it sometimes was with his husband on board, Shiro _ always _ followed his own rules for fraternization and public displays.

But there was only ever one surefire way to reassure Keith of his feelings, and if there was ever a time to make an exception to the rule, it was when your husband grew over half a foot in a few months time and you both needed to come to terms with it.

_ Enjoy the show, _ Shiro thought dimly as someone in the hangar whistled at them and laughed. He was far more focused on reacquainting himself with the soft feel of Keith’s lips, the slide of his mouth against his, the taste of his tongue.

It wasn’t long before Keith pulled away, a beautiful blush covering his cheeks, eyes alight and glowing with affection. He took a quick glance around the hangar and then whispered, “Breaking your own rules, Captain?”

Shiro smiled at him. “For you? Always.”

Keith leaned down, pressing their foreheads together. “I really am sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, baby. You had no control over it,” Shiro replied, as his hands wandered down to fiddle with the front of Keith’s uniform. “Besides, you remember that time you told me you wanted to, and I quote, ‘climb me like a tree’?”

Keith huffed in answer, a question in his night-sky eyes.

“I think I get it now,” Shiro said with a meaningful look, his tone dipping lower as his mind began to run away with the possibility of testing that theory.

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah,” Shiro admitted, voice rough with desire. “Are you hiding any other surprises I should know about?”

The expected response to such a question was his husband’s raucous laughter, followed by sarcasm, innuendo or a comment combining the two.

That was _ not _ what he got.

“Well…"

******

Indeed, there were a few unanticipated shocks waiting for Shiro, once they had made their way back to their quarters and well away from anyone who could interrupt them.

They crashed together the moment the door sealed shut, hands and lips connecting, seeking to make up for lost time as quickly as possible. Shiro’s hands immediately sought the zipper of Keith’s suit, the long practiced task easily allowing his hands to slip under the fabric, sliding against skin. Keith made a sound that fell somewhere between a moan and purring as he leaned down to suck at the base of Shiro’s neck.

“Bed, baby,” Keith said, his voice deliciously deep and guttural, burning through Shiro and leaving a fire in its wake. “I missed you so much.”

Though Keith had always been capable of lifting him with some effort, Shiro was shocked completely breathless when his bigger and apparently much stronger husband picked him up like he weighed nothing, carrying him toward their bedroom with incredibly long strides. The term “swooning”, which he’d never completely understood before, suddenly took on a whole new meaning as he was cradled in Keith’s arms.

When he was finally able to break away from kissing Keith long enough to divest him of his clothes, Shiro’s eager hand trailed down to find the second surprise — a raised, circular ribbing on a particularly _sensitive_ area of his husband’s body. Shiro quickly covered his gasp of surprise with a sound of excitement, determined to allay Keith’s fear that Shiro was put off by his physical changes. Running his hand slowly along the familiar, silky skin, Shiro marveled at the corrugated pattern, which only became more distinct the harder Keith became under his ministrations.

As it turned out, you could learn something new about the Galra every day, even if you were married to one.

“I know it’s… different,” Keith said, suddenly shy and unsure. He closed his eyes and lifted his head, and Shiro watched his Adam’s apple bob as Keith tried to control his reaction to Shiro’s touch, absent for much too long.

“It’s ok,” Shiro said softly, reassuring with both his voice and his hands. “I’ll always love every part of you, sweetheart. Nothing will ever change that.”

And for the next few hours, Shiro thoroughly enjoyed proving it to him.

Later, as he lay in bed listening to Keith’s soft snores from being thoroughly worn out, Shiro couldn’t seem to wipe the elated smile off his face. He'd always felt extremely lucky that Keith had chosen to be with him, but now — it was like Shiro had hit the marital jackpot.

Because the sensation Keith’s bodily changes provided, for Shiro at least, was _ AMAZING. _

Shiro also may have been a little unrestrained in vocalizing his enjoyment, which only bolstered Keith’s confidence and encouraged him to use his new size and strength in very… _ effective _ ways.

There was really only one problem Shiro could find with his “upgraded” husband — there was a very good chance he may never let Keith bottom again.

**Author's Note:**

> If you had a favorite part, I would LOVE to hear about it! Comments and kudos always appreciated.
> 
> If you want, come talk to me about Sheith on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/geek_life13) :)


End file.
